For millions of consumers who use dishwashers, fridges, ranges and other common appliances on recall lists, apparently not.

Daniel DiClerico, senior editor at Consumer Reports, said the magazine began a yearlong investigation after hearing anecdotal stories about “unusual appliance fires.”

Then in its annual survey of subscribers, Kermit and JoAnna Moreau of Lumberton, Texas, told Consumer Reports that their General Electric microwave oven turned on by itself while they were home. “The electrical arcing was so violent that the turntable had cracked and the bottom of the unit was scorched,” Mr. Moreau said in the article.

DiClerico said his team soon learned of dozens of stories about microwave, refrigerator and dishwasher fires. The team conducted an in-depth analysis of federal fire data, and found “only about half of appliance fires could be blamed on human mistakes, such as unattended cooking, or natural causes such as storms or animals.”

“Much of the rest appears to be due to problems with the appliances themselves,” the article explained, “according to our review of safety records, fire reports, and court documents.”

The couple featured in the introduction caused me to grab my smart phone to take pictures of the serial numbers and descriptions of my appliances to look up for recall alerts. I suggest you do the same.

According to the Consumer Reports investigation, Ron and Stacy Nicol were an hour’s drive from their condo in Oakland Township, Mich., when they received a phone call from the sheriff’s office saying a fire had broken out in it. Thankfully, a neighbor rescued the couple’s Labrador retrievers but the kitchen was destroyed.

“The official cause of the fire, according to fire department and county sheriff reports, was their over-the-range GE microwave oven,” the article said.

The Nicols told Consumer Reports that they might join a class-action lawsuit filed in 2009 against GE, “alleging that some of its microwave ovens had started up by themselves and caused fires.”